אחר הדברים האלה גדל המלך אחשורוש את המן בן המדתא האגגי וינשאהו וישם את כסא מעל כל השרים אשר אתו
“Some time afterward, king Achashveirosh promoted Haman the son of Hamdosoh the Agagi; he advanced him and seated him higher than any of his fellow officials.” (Esther 3:1)
The Gemara in Chullin (139b) asks: המן מן התורה מנין - “From where do we see a reference to Haman’s name in the Torah?” To which the enigmatic answer is given: המן העץ – “Did you eat from this tree?” (Bereishis 3:11). Without vowels, the Hebrew letters of the word hamin (המן) are the same as the Hebrew letters in the name Haman (המן). This is a type of Gemara that cannot be understood on a superficial level. The Gemara is certainly not merely playing a word game!
The Gemara is saying the following: “Where does the Torah allude to the concept represented by Haman?” The answer is that the essence of Haman lies in the pasuk: המן העץ – “Did you eat from this tree?” Rav Bergman explains that Haman was an individual who had everything. Chazal say he was one of the wealthiest people in the world. He was second in command to the king. He had all that one could ask out of life money, power, family — everything! And yet, what did Haman say? As long as Haman saw “Mordechai, the Jew sitting at the gate of the king” (refusing to bow down to him) Haman said: וכל זה איננו שוה לי - “All this is worthless to me” (Esther 5:13). Because Haman was lacking one thing, everything else became worthless to him.
Such a person will never be happy. In order for a person to be happy, one must be pleased with his lot in life. Haman represents the antithesis of one who is happy with his lot. He represents the one who is never happy. He can have money, power and prestige and yet declare it all worthless.
The Gemara asks, where do we see this attribute in the Torah — that one can have everything and yet still not be satisfied? The answer is that we find it by Adam in Gan...
